Old Dominion’s Bobby Wilder lured a familiar face to Norfolk as he continued to remake his defensive staff with the addition of former former University of Maine player and assistant coach Jeff Comissiong to coach the defensive line.

Wilder has known Comissiong for 22 years, going back to his playing days at Maine when Wilder was an assistant coach.

“I’ve been impressed not only with his ability to recruit but to develop players,” Wilder said. “I got a chance to work side-by-side with him and I know what kind of coach and what kind of person he is. I think he’ll be an excellent fit at Old Dominion.”

Comissiong (pronounced com-MISS-ee-own) spent the past six years as defensive line coach at Boston College, where he was a part of nationally ranked defenses and coached future NFL draft choices B.J. Raji and Ron Brace.

After his playing career at Maine from 1991-94, he did two stints as an assistant with the Black Bears. He worked with new Monarchs’ defensive coordinator Rich Nagy when Maine had the Atlantic 10′s top-ranked defense in the early 2000s.

Comissiong wasn’t retained by new Boston College coach Steve Addazio, who replaced Frank Spaziani as head coach after last season.

“Jeff’s misfortune was coaching on a team that had a 2-10 record,” Wilder said. “That turned out to be our good fortune.”

With Comissiong’s hire, assistant Bill Dee moves from the defensive line back to the offensive line. The former Phoebus High coach originally coached the Monarchs’ offensive line before he was made defensive coordinator in 2012.

When Wilder hired Nagy as coordinator after last season, he moved Dee to defensive line coach, where he has spent the offseason and spring football thus far. The Monarchs will hold their spring game 3 p.m. April 20 at S.B. Ballard Stadium.

Wilder is Madison native who went on to play quarterback for the Black Bears and graduated in 1987. He was an assistant coach at UMaine for 17 seasons, the last six as associate head coach.